


sunday mornings

by theredhoodie



Series: we're heroes [2]
Category: The Gifted (TV 2017)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-02-05 07:59:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12790212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theredhoodie/pseuds/theredhoodie
Summary: (A companion fic to "we could be heroes, me and you".) A few months into their newly founded relationship find our two favorite mutants with a morning alone where Clarice learns more about John in twenty minutes than she'd learned in a year.





	sunday mornings

**Author's Note:**

> A sequel to the previous work in this series! This takes place three or four months after "dinner and a show". I just have these adorable headcanons for my little world and just want to write them all. This could potentially be read as a stand alone if you so desire.
> 
> As per usual, I apologize for any mistakes and I hope they're not terrible!

Clarice woke up into a cozy, warm bed, John’s fingers laced through her hair. He kept rubbing small circles on her arm with his thumb.

“Have you been just watching me sleep?” she asked, opening her eyes and squinting at the light coming through the window.

A small smile appeared on his face. “No. My eyes have been closed this whole time.”

Rolling her eyes, she pushed herself up on her elbows. His eyes were indeed closed. “How long did you let me sleep?”

“An hour. Maybe more.” He cracked an eye open to see the disgruntled look on her face. “What?”

“You let me sleep in! If anyone needs extra rest, it’s you.” She sat up, tucking one of her legs under her and fixing the tank top strap that fell down her arm as she shifted.

“I get plenty of sleep. With all your training, you need it more than I do.”

Ever since Clarice had portalled the both of them from another city back to HQ, they’d been testing her limits. Aside from trying to portal to places she hadn’t seen or been to before, they’d also been trying to see how she did with having multiple portals open at once. It was tiring work, but it would be important for her to be strong it the future.

“Ugh, fine.” Clarice glanced over her shoulder. HQ had managed to send enough refugees away in the past few months that John had his room back. Clarice would never admit it, but she had practically moved into his room. He didn’t mind and Clarice was getting more and more accustomed to waking up beside him with each passing morning.

“Not too many people are up,” John said, sitting up and resting back against the wall beneath the window. He was shirtless, all muscles and tan skin. Clarice sighed and turned around to settle back against his chest. She nuzzled his neck with her nose and his arms wrapped loosely around her from behind.

“We should go join the masses anyway,” Clarice muttered, relishing in the warmth of his embrace.

“Not yet.” John nudged her forward a little bit and gently pulled all of her hair behind her back.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” he said innocently.

She slouched a little and felt his fingers run through her hair. It was nice, and lulled her into a hazy, drowsy sense of comfort. It took her a few solid minutes to realize what he was doing. “Are you…braiding my hair?” She twisted around a little and his hands moved with her head.

“Yes,” he said as if it was the most common thing in the world for him to be doing.

Clarice laughed and settled back so he could continue. “You are a man of many talents,” she mused as he brushed hairs behind her ears. “Have you done this often?”

“Yeah. I mean, after my grandfather’s service, he never cut his hair again. I used to braid it for him when his hands were too stiff.”

“Oh.”

“I had longer hair too, before I had to buzz it off.”

There was a moment of quiet, with John twisting her magenta hair together and Clarice realizing how little she knew about John; his past, where he came from, how he became the person he was now.

“Do you miss it? Being around your family?”

“I do. But what I’m doing here makes a big difference to a lot of people. Besides, my brother watches out for our parents.”

Clarice twisted around again. “You have a brother? You never told me.”

John shrugged and continued braiding to the tips of her hair. “James. He’s younger than me. We have almost identical powers.”

“Really?” From what she knew, mutant siblings rarely, if ever had the same powers, except for Esme Cuckoo and her sisters, but that whole situation had _weird_ written all over it. “How come you don’t talk about him?”

“He was really pissed at me when I left the Rez to come here. I told him the X-Men chose me, but it didn’t make it any better. I haven’t seen him in years.”

His hands dropped to her waist, the braid finished. She settled back against his chest again and laced their fingers together. “Do you think you’ll ever see him again?” she asked.

“I hope so. He’s a little shit so you’d probably like him,” he added, squeezing her fingers.

She smiled softly, eyes wandering aimlessly around the empty room, drenched in early morning light. “Maybe I can portal you there one day.”

“Where?”

“To your parents.”

“That’s all the way across the country.”

“Hey, you told me yesterday that my powers were getting stronger.”

“And they are. But I don’t think even you could make a two thousand mile jump.”

“So we’ll make pit stops. Like thirty of them.”

John chuckled softly, his breath tickling her delicately pointed ears.

“Your parents…they’re okay with you being a mutant?” Her voice was tiny, and she fiddled with his fingers as she spoke.

“Yeah. They’re some of the rare accepting ones.”

“That’s probably why you’re such a good person. Good parenting.”

“My mom would love to hear that.”

“Oh? Is she as fond of compliments as you are about _not_ getting compliments?” That was one thing that she knew very well about John. Compliments and him did not get along. Sometimes she tired it just to see him get flustered, but only if he seemed particularly relaxed. She had to keep him on his toes somehow.

“Ha, ha.”

Knowing very well that they should get moving, neither of them did so. John slid his arm up around her shoulders and she held onto his wrist, enjoying the little bit of pressure against her collarbones.

“You know you don’t have to hide when you’re here,” John said finally, every little bit of air tickling her neck and her ear.

She was so accustomed to hiding that she even did it here, where mutants of all shapes and sizes and colors gathered together. She couldn’t do much for her eyes other than to wear shades all the time, but her ears were easy to cover up. “Force of habit,” she said. She was starting to look less and less human with her facial markings lately. It wasn’t like the Underground was rolling around in makeup to cover it up so she could leave the compound a little more often.

“If it helps, I like all of you.”

“It does, actually.” Taking in a deep breath, she resisted the urge to push hair away from her face that wasn’t there, and turned completely around on the mattress to face him. “Are you ready to join whoever’s awake?”

“Not really.”

“Good, me neither,” she said quickly with a grin. Launching herself at him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, long and hard. She tugged him down onto the mattress with her and sighed in contentment as his hands roamed over her scantly clad body and his lips trailed down her neck.

“Shit,” he said suddenly and her eyes flew open. It would not be the first time they’d been interrupted and definitely not the last, but she was hoping for one normal morning for once. “The door…”

Kept unlocked at night, in case of emergency. 

Barely thinking, Clarice sliced her fingers through the air and created a tiny portal, the other end right at the deadbolt. She stuck her hand through and locked it before it flickered shut and her hand resumed its hold on his hair, pulling his mouth down to hers once again.


End file.
